Transcript

Why people leave Notion

Why are people leaving Notion? On November 2, Notion changed how AI credits work for Business seats. Business costs $20 per member a month, and extra AI credits cost $10 per 1,000. So here are 8 Notion alternatives, with every price checked.

The short answer

The short answer. The best Notion alternative overall is Confluence, from $5.78 per user a month. The best free plan is Obsidian: the app is free, without limits. The best open-source pick is AppFlowy, licensed AGPL-3.0. Notion itself starts at $10 per member a month. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on November 12, 2026.

Notion price and free plan in 2027

Notion's price and free plan. The Free plan costs $0. It gives unlimited pages and blocks for solo use, but blocks are limited once two or more members join, file uploads stop at 5 MB, and page history lasts 7 days. Plus is $10 per member a month, billed yearly. Business is $20.

Confluence: company wikis with permissions

Confluence: best for company wikis with permissions. It starts at $5.78 per user a month. The free plan covers up to 10 users and 2 GB of storage, but it has no permission settings for spaces or pages. Switch if your team needs page-level permissions and a wiki tied to Jira. Stay with Notion if you want one flexible workspace without per-user Atlassian fees.

Obsidian: private local Markdown notes

Obsidian: best for private, local Markdown notes. The app itself is free, with no usage caps, and your notes stay on your device. Sync is an optional add-on at $4 a month, billed yearly. Switch if you want offline notes and no limits. Stay with Notion if you need real-time team editing and shared databases.

ClickUp: docs tied to tasks and projects

ClickUp: best for docs tied to tasks and projects. Core costs $9 per user a month, billed yearly. Free Forever caps storage at 60 MB, with one Doc Wiki and three whiteboards. Switch if your docs mostly support tasks and sprints. Stay with Notion if your work is mainly notes, wikis and databases.

Craft: polished documents for small teams

Craft: best for polished documents in small teams. The Team plan is $5 per member a month, with a three-member minimum. The free plan stops at 1,500 blocks, with one member. Switch if you want a lower team price and have at least three people. Stay with Notion if you rely on databases or need more blocks for free.

Mem: AI agent for personal notes

Mem: an AI agent that organizes your personal notes. Mem Plus is $9 a month. The free plan allows 25 messages to Mem and 25 new notes a month. Switch if you want AI to file and find your notes for you, mainly as one person. Stay with Notion if you need team wikis and no monthly note cap.

AppFlowy: open-source Notion-style workspace

AppFlowy: the self-hostable, open-source, Notion-style workspace. It is licensed AGPL-3.0, so you can host it yourself for free. The hosted Pro plan is $12 per member a month, billed yearly. Switch if you want your data on your own server. Stay with Notion if you want a hosted product with no servers to maintain.

Joplin: encrypted Markdown notes

Joplin: encrypted Markdown notes with free sync choices. It is open source under MIT, and it syncs with end-to-end encryption through Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive or Joplin Cloud. Joplin Cloud Basic is 2.99 euros a month. Switch if you want plain notes in storage you already own. Stay with Notion if you edit shared pages with teammates in real time.

AFFiNE: docs and whiteboards, local-first

AFFiNE: docs, whiteboards and tables in one local-first app. It is open source, with an MIT Community Edition. The cloud free plan gives 10 GB and up to three members, and Pro is $6.75 a month, billed yearly. Switch if you want docs and whiteboards together in an open app. Stay with Notion for its larger integration ecosystem.

Cost for a team of 5

Cost for a team of 5. If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, Obsidian Sync costs $20 a month, Craft $25, and Confluence $28.90, against $50 for Notion. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. Change the team size in the Zekai Cost Finder.

Which one should you pick?

Which one should you pick? For most teams, Confluence. For free personal notes, Obsidian. And to host it yourself, AppFlowy.

Live table and price alerts

The live table, the team cost finder and price alerts are on zekaiwork.com, slash alternatives, slash Notion. Prices change, and Zekai tells you when they do.